In Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, an encounter at Indravati National Park resulted in the deaths of 31 Maoists and two security personnel. The gunfight occurred during an anti-Maoist operation by a joint team of security forces after receiving information about Maoist presence in the area.

The deceased security personnel were from the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF). Two other injured Jawans were airlifted to Raipur for treatment.

Authorities have sent reinforcements to the site and are continuing search operations in the area. They also recovered a large cache of weapons and explosives from the scene.

This was the second encounter at Indravati National Park this year, with a previous incident on January 12 resulting in the deaths of three Maoists. So far this year, 62 Maoists and 11 jawans have been killed in encounters in Chhattisgarh.

Bijapur is known as one of the worst Maoist-affected districts in the Bastar region and is considered an epicentre of left-wing extremism in south Chhattisgarh. Security forces had killed eight Maoist militants in Bijapur on February 1.

Agencies